Chapter
Twenty-One
Under
The Influence – Drinking and Driving
During
my life I have driven under the influence thousands of times, but I
want to focus on the five times I was caught. The first time I was
arrested for OWI was in April of 1999, when I was sixteen years old.
I was on supervision for a burglary I committed while stealing
alcohol from one of my neighbors’ garages. The night of my OWI
though, I had been out with some friends and we decided to hit up a
party. While at the party I had consumed a couple of beers while I
was there. I had been gambling with some older guys at the party and
I took the majority of their money. So I offered to give them a ride
to a bar on Main St. in Janesville, WI. After leaving the parking
lot I headed back up Court St. to go back to the party. My friend
Wes was sitting in the front passenger seat and we were listening to
some music. I admit I was driving a little fast. But when we got to
the top of the hill the street gets a whole lot darker and there is a
five-point intersection. When approaching the intersection I noticed
an SUV coming up to the stop sign to the left pretty quickly so I hit
the brakes. Only the SUV continued through the stop sign and plowed
headfirst into my front end.
I was immediately knocked unconscious.
My friend Wes got out and chased one of the passengers in the SUV
because they tried to flee the accident. When he returned he and
another witness helped pull the driver’s door open to get me out.
I eventually had found out I had injured my elbow pretty badly, but
at this point the police just wanted to make their arrests. I was
revoked from my juvenile supervision and sent to Ethan Allen School
for Boys a month later.
On May 16th
of 2005 I was leaving a festival in the area near my home where I had
been drinking heavily for a few hours and I had car troubles when
slowing down for a curve. At the same time there was an officer who
had another gentleman pulled over for a traffic related offense.
When he heard my engine rev to the limit, he immediately jumped into
his squad car and chased me. By the time he pulled up behind my car
which I had already exited and was at the passenger door pulling out a
case of beer. He put the case of beer back and told me he wanted to
give me a field sobriety test because he though I had been drinking
too much. After failing the test he took me to jail. I was on adult
supervision at the time for Possession with Intent to Deliver LSD and
Felony Bail Jumping, so they immediately put me on a Probation Hold.
I eventually was released six days later and was only sentenced to
five days in jail (time served) and a fine. I lost my job due to not
being able to call in while I was in jail.
Almost a year and half
later on October 12th
2006, I had been working at another job and while out with a couple
of co-workers I had a few drinks at the bar. Around 1:00AM I decided
to head home. I didn’t even make it out of the city of Beloit
before being pulled over for not making a complete stop at a stop
sign. When he approached the car he noticed an open bottle of beer
in the center counsel. I once again failed the field sobriety test,
but since I was doing as I was told and I wasn’t making any
problems for the officers, they drove me up the street to the
hospital so they could draw blood. After drawing blood from me they
called my father to come pick me up.
Later on September 4th
of 2008 I was tubing down Turtle Creek with a few friends of mine.
We brought our own tubes along and left a pickup truck at the bar
where we planned on exiting the creek. The trip took quite a few
hours as the current was moving quite slowly. So we managed to drink
all of the beer we had brought along. By the time we exited at the
Shopiere Tap I thought I was most likely the soberest one of the
group so I opted to drive. When coming into the town limits we were
all loaded in the front and back of the pickup truck and the police
officer saw me driving of course, and he knew I didn’t have a
driver’s license. So he attempted to pull me over, but I wasn’t
going to make it that easy for him. I shifted down into first and
gunned the engine, kicking rocks all over his windshield. He
wouldn’t give up and I didn’t want anyone getting hurt so I just
drove to my friend Brandon’s house and pulled into his driveway.
He just so happened to have been in the front seat next to me. The
officer got me out of the truck and told me I was under arrest. When
he decided to give me a field sobriety test I told him I refused. I
had three prior convictions and was clearly under the influence, so
we could just skip the BS and go straight to jail. He in turn was
generous enough to take me to the hospital I went to for the last
blood draw and have them draw my blood again. Since he was headed
back to my town he was kind enough to drop me off at home then. My
parents signed for responsibility of me and as soon as the officer
left I walked out the backdoor and went back to Brandon’s to drink
some more.
The last time I was arrested for an OWI I had just
attended my grandma’s funeral. After the funeral the whole family
went to my aunt and uncle’s house and had dinner and drinks. After
having a few drinks I left in my car. When I came to a four-way stop
at the same time as a city bus, I waved the bus driver through. When
he started heading up the hill much slower than I thought he should
have been, I was closely behind him. Apparently close enough to draw
the attention of the officer in the car behind. A minute later he
pulled me over, and of course, once again, I was under the influence
and was restricted by an absolute sobriety law. He eventually took
me to jail and booked me for my fifth OWI, which is a felony, and I
later was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and twenty-four
months of extended supervision.
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